Page 123

"I did. And I looked through everyone's accounts. The Russians were guilty from the get go and I got the confirmation of their involvement already. But the Italians?" I shake my head, moving to our seats and taking out my laptop.

"I looked through all the accounts I could find, and none had sent any payments to any off-shore I could link with Miles. I've certainly tracked all their other transactions. But Miles?" I shake my head.

"What does that mean, then?" Sisi bites her lip worriedly.

"It means it's much bigger than we thought. And much bigger thanjustthose experiments." I purse my lips, endless possibilities stretching before me. "We need to talk to your brother," I add grimly.

"Damn," Sisi mutters.

"Sacre Coeur sponsors another five orphanages." I pull up a document, and Sisi leans in, scrunching up her nose as she reads through the contents.

"So they've been feeding children into Miles' program," she notes before suddenly going still, her eyes widening. "Vlad." Her hand reaches out to grab onto my shirt.

"What? What is it?"

"I just remembered something. And I think you're right. This is much bigger than we anticipated," she says, her lips trembling slightly.

"What is it?"

"It's a very vague memory, but I couldn’t have been more than three, maybe four-years-old. But I remember being taken to the hospital for some tests. I wasn't the only one. All the kids in my class were taken too." She recounts and I have a hard time controlling myself thinking about anyone laying even a finger onmySisi.

"Fuck," I mutter, incensed that something of this magnitude could have escaped me.

"But there's more. I never understood what happened, but kids went missing all the time at Sacre Coeur. I remember just wondering why no one cared about them. After they disappeared, no one even spoke their names again. It was like they didn't even exist," she says, telling me about some who she'd known personally.

Without even thinking, I bring her to my chest, my arms tight around her as I realize how close she'd been to danger.

Fuck!

Sacre Coeur won't get away with this. Especially since I'd already vowed to see the people who hurt my Sisi punished.

"We'll figure it out, hell girl," I speak against her hair.

One glance at my watch and I realize we must be nearing the airport soon, so I tell Sisi to get ready for landing.

But just as I'm about to put my stuff away, the plane suddenly dips, a small explosion sounding from the west wing.

What?

I barely have time to regain my equilibrium as I grab Sisi's hand, making sure she's always by my side.

The plane keeps on teetering, loud noises coming from the engine. Using the intercom, I contact the pilot.

"I think something hit the left engine, Sir," the pilot mumbles.

My hand still wrapped around Sisi, I tug her after me as I look out the window toward the left engine.

"Vlad… that's…" Sisi's eyes widen as she looks at the flames coming from the engine.

"I think we got hit," I say grimly, cursing out. "I didn't realize they'd be insucha hurry to get rid of me," I add drily.

"We're going down, aren't we?" she asks, and I turn to her, impressed that she's not freaking out, yelling, or worse, fainting on me.

No, she's just watching the fire coming from the broken engine, her face serene.

"We are," I reply.

Without wasting another minute, I pull open the compartment housing parachutes, quickly making sure everything is in order before putting the vest and everything on me.